Five key IoT trends to watch in 2019

One of the big anticipations for us is how the Internet of Things will be enhanced by wider deployments of 5G networks around the globe. We’re excited to see how it will enable new and innovative use cases in areas like autonomous vehicles and Industrial IoT.

5G-driven Innovations

Warren Chaisatien, global director of IoT customer engagement marketing, shared that industries will see great advancements enabled by the growth of 5G networks, and further enhanced by technologies like robotics and automation, virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) and artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).

“5G will enhance the capabilities of edge and cognitive computing, which will be particularly vital to certain applications, like self-driving cars, where computing must be performed as close to the device as possible to reduce latency of decision making. The list of industries ready to take their businesses to the next level with 5G finally becoming available is long, including manufacturing, transport/logistics, public safety/emergency and smart cities,” says Warren.

Field services will benefit from AR enabled by 5G

One area that will particularly benefit from 5G is field services, made possible by AR. Experienced engineers are hard to find and those that organizations do have can only visit so many remote sites in a year. Enabled by 5G and the speed with which data can travel through the air, AR will allow engineers-in-training to be able to have instant intelligence about a device on which they may be working just by pointing their tablet towards it. This will allow them to rely less on sheer experience and intuition but still be able to make informed decisions. Seasoned engineers will be empowered to accomplish more in less time with access to those same, instant insights provided by AR applications, powered by 5G.

Automation is the key to IoT’s future

The Internet of Things is certainly expanding at an amazing rate and this will only accelerate as 5G availability increases. According to our November 2018 Mobility Report, by 2024, the number of connected devices is forecasted to exceed 22 billion. This is an astounding number. How will organizations manage them all?

Head of IoT Security, Bodil Josefsson, forecasts growth in automation to not only manage the devices themselves, but also the securing of them throughout the lifecycle. Not only is a team incapable of manually managing these devices due to sheer volume, but the same goes for securing them.

“IoT services will only increase in complexity with many ecosystem partners contributing to create an end-2-end service. In order to have a secure e2e service, security needs to be managed all the way from device through the network to the user. The fact that many devices will have limited capabilities to handle security, makes it possible to use these unprotected devices to launch attacks. We will see further initiatives such as the CTIA Cybersecurity certification program to ensure that only certified devices get connected. ”Automated security compliance and intrusion prevention will also see wider adoption, greatly assisting organizations in maintaining secure uptime,” says Bodil.

A shift in offerings

The notion of managing of billions of devices and the challenges that come with it prompted Warren to forecast that we will see a shift in telecom service provider offerings to meet this need. “In 2018, it’s become common for telecom service providers to offer IoT connectivity. Next year, we will see many of them move to the next level, offering enterprises the ability to manage connected devices, but also managing and securing those devices’ entire lifecycles,” comments Warren.

A greater shift in business and pricing models

Additionally, we will see more momentum in businesses changing their models - from selling products to selling services. Organizations will no longer buy just a machine or pump, but rather the service it performs, for example. This shift is having a fundamental impact on how IoT services are offered and priced by telecom service providers. For more insights, read our recently released Developing Viable IoT Business Models report.